Ex-tax official's wife owns oil companies

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) identified serious violations in the declaration of former head of the excise goods control department of the State Tax Service in Odesa Oblast, Oleksandr Balanets. The official failed to declare assets and financial obligations worth 3 million hryvnia, as well as provided knowingly false information.

Secret passports and land schemes

Even at the stage of verifying personal data, the NACP found that Balanets had not declared foreign passports — neither his own nor those of his family. In the section on documents for his wife and two sons, the entry reads "No data available" instead of the relevant details. Such errors hinder the identification of individuals outside Ukraine, which is a violation of the law.

The auditors' attention was also drawn to the former tax official's real estate. The declaration lists an inflated value for one of the land plots (45,500 hryvnia), although in reality it was formed by merging two other plots. Two other pieces of land, received free of charge from the village council, were also declared in violation of the rules.

Luxury Mercedes and yacht with "unknown" price

One of the most contentious items in the declaration was the vehicles. In 2022, Balanets' wife purchased a 2011 Mercedes-Benz ML 300 CDI for 974,000 hryvnia, but the documents state "Not applicable". Although the transaction is officially recorded, the official claims he did not know its cost.

The story of the 2008 Grand C-360 pleasure boat is no less intriguing. The declaration states that the price is unknown, although the maritime transport registry records an amount of 12,500 hryvnia.

Doctor wife with oil assets

The most resonant information concerned the corporate ties of the ex-tax official's wife. Despite holding a medical degree, she turned out to be a co-owner of several oil and trading companies, including:

• PP "Proekt" (50% share);

• PP "Fart Nafta" (49% share);

• LLC "Global Oil Trade" (66.7%, 4 million hryvnia);

• LLC "Global Port Terminals" (100%);

• LLC "Global Oil Retail" (50%, 250,000 hryvnia).

This data was absent from the declaration, which the NACP deemed as concealing income.

Million-hryvnia gaps in income

Another alarming signal is the undeclared income of Balanets' wife. In 2022, she contributed 1 million hryvnia to the capital of LLC "Global Oil Trade", but the origin of 378,000 hryvnia of this amount is not confirmed by documents.

Large financial obligations also remained outside the declaration. The wife's debts to "Global Oil Trade" (3 million hryvnia) and "Global Oil Retail" (250,000 hryvnia) were not specified, which became the most significant violation.

Overall, the NACP identified inaccurate data worth 3 million hryvnia, which falls under Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — declaration of inaccurate information. The case may now proceed to law enforcement agencies.